Grizzlies Don’t Do in Game Four, Now May Die

Well, it didn’t happen. The Grizzlies were not able to reciprocate the Clipper victory in game one at FEF.

Why, oh why? Why and how did the Grizzlies put themselves in position to be forced to go on a three-game winning streak to advance?

-They don’t have a player as good as Chris Paul, bottom line. Those shots he hit in the OT period were just nails in the Griz’ coffin for the game. His quickness and ability to make decisions off reverse screens are just traits that even the Grizzlies’ most diligent defensive efforts have not been able to overcome. Matters not who the Griz put on him.

-OJ and Marc with 10 FGA’s combined. That ain’t gonna work. Rudy Gay’s need to take over and prove his worth is great and all-but not at the expense of balance. Conley and Gay with 40 FGA’s combined? Really? Understood that Conley hit 10-for-15, that’s nice-but balance is how they won game two, and now the balancing act is suspended at about 4000 feet with no net underneath.

-The balance issues, the holding out of Gasol in game 3, etc…how much of this can we trace to Hollins? Maybe not much, but maybe a decent bit. Choking is not how what Hollins has done would be described-only the players can choke-but the solid platform of coaching confidence upon which the players have stood seems not quite as stable.

-Bright spot? Speights, with 9 and 6 in eleven minutes. His “other” minutes were given to Hamed Haddadi, which was, well, interesting. In eleven minutes himself, he had five boards and “only” two fouls (astounding for him). Blake Griffin is talented, but he’s no Malone…but the Grizzlies have no way to defend him.

Win or go home is now literal for the Grizzlies. Can they beat the Clippers three times in a row?

It’s obvious, Del Negro isn’t out-coaching you with the X-O’s, but he’s out-coaching you with the fact that he’s recognized our weaknesses and exploited them:

Reggie Evans, Kenyon Martin, and Blake Griffin have gotten inside the head’s of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. Absolutely obvious in game 4. To an extent, they’ve affected Gay, Mayo, and Speights as well.

Evans, Martin, and Griffin OWN Randolph and Gasol. Period.

To your credit, you (Coach Hollins) recognized this and gave Haddadi the minutes. Excellent move on your part. I don’t think anyone was prepared to accept this move on your part but clearly it worked. Why? Let’s quickly look:

1)Haddadi is not reacting negatively to the antics of the clipper’s trio
2)Not only is Haddadi taller than Marc, but with his wing span he is ridiculously altering Chris Paul (and anybody else that tries to drive) from coming into the paint. If you doubt this theory, just watch the minutes last night with Haddadi & Paul in.
3)Haddadi’s not taking away from our players that are decent right now – Conley and Gay. If i see another person post on here how everything needs to run through Marc.. such a plan is based off of the past season and not updated to better match the Clippers.

Lionel, just have the strength to weather any criticism you will receive for playing Haddadi more minutes. All you need to worry about is a win. In this series, it is your best bet. Haddadi is the physical/psychological balance to the clippers trio.

I think Hollins thought way too much into offense vs defense in overtime. He subbed in Mayo for TA for offense even though Mayo never touched the ball on offense and was having an off night anyway. TA was playing terrific defense on CP3, especially the final play of regulation. The first 3 jumpers CP3 had in overtime were when Mayo was guarding him bc there wasn’t a stoppage in play so that we could sub TA back in.

Also, we need to go back to the inside out game of last season where we fed the ball to ZBo and Gasol first and then started shooting from the outside. 4 Field Goal Attempts for Gasol is unacceptable. Our best half of basketball was the first half of Game 1 when Gasol was leading the charge.

Can they? Of course they can. The real question is: Will they? Or, maybe, do they want to? They’re starting to remind me of my teenagers. I know they’re perfectly capable of excelling. They just seem to NOT want to exert the energy necessary.

At least If they lose tomorrow they won’t have a long trip home. I hate to be negative but I don’t think this team can win with Rudy taking more shots that Gasol and Randolph combined and it certainly looks like he’s not going to give the ball up.

the difference is, last year in the fourth quarter, every play was a dump in the post to zach. this year we are trying to run our fourth quarter plays through rudy. problem is, rudy is not a superstar.

At the beginning of the game the grizz looked like they were going to blow them.out then they lost their confidence again. Agree with tillery about Gasol. He is totally out of it. Mayo tries to pass to Gasol but they are denying him the ball and Gasol isn’t that quick to get to the ball. Conley had a super game truth to match Paul. Oj lost his mojo after he missed a shot and hollins got on him after a bE pass Nd took him out of the game. One wonders if Wednesday will be his last game as a grizz.
I like oj but think he needs.to be playing for a different coach to thrive like he can. Hope they can win Wednesday but if not their is always the draft coming up. I think they need to look at trading one of their big money starting five.

I don’t think we need to trade one of the starting five, IF zach can get back to form next year. Zach needs to be the first option, gasol the second, and rudy third. now if zach can’t get back to form…then the grizzlies may need to think trade

Last year when working the ball through the bigs they had multiple cutters, Conley from the point and TA and Sam from the wings. Not to mention both TA and Sam smashed the boards, helping rebound. Rudy doesn’t have the killer instinct and settles for jump shots too much. I would love to see him get some big rebounds (from others shots) and make his presence known in the paint.

The Grizz best strategy of winning is inside first and inside second and then outside. We know that and every team in the league knows that and it’s been very productive for us. HOWEVER, the big men (Zach and Gasol) aren’t getting it done! Plain and simple! Marc isn’t establishing position on the block and catching it 15-20 feet from the rim isn’t really helping us in the paint. ZBo isn’t right. I don’t know if it’s mental or if the knee isn’t 100% or even 80%! But you can see it and if we can see it, you know the players on the court can see it.
– Reggie Evans is the series MVP. I don’t care about the CP3 or BG numbers. Reggie Evans owns ZBo and Gasol! He’s all hustle, no skill.
– Vinnie is outcoaching Hollins and it’s SAD to see! Hollins isn’t making any adjustments and he’s panicking. Yes, he put Tony on CP3 but what good is that if you gonna use the same strategy of trying to guard CP3 at halfcourt on a pick and roll?!? CP3 gets the pick, the big man doesn’t care to roll because now CP3 is running full speed at our big man (Speights, Marc, ZBo) who can’t guard him in that situation. This leads to easy 10-15 foot WIDE OPEN jumpers or passes for wide open jumpers or layups! No need to guard Paul at the half court line. You’re not going to get the ball out his hands right there and you’re just causing the defense to be react mode!
– Last one….Please STOP doubling Blake!!! If he’s going to hit a great portion of “dribble then jump and spin in air for a one handed pump” layups, live with it! He got 7 assists passing out of doubles for wide open jumpers! Games 1 and 2, he wasn’t doubled and the Grizz should’ve won both of them.

Grizz put themselves in a terrible hole and I doubt they can come out of it. I hate to see the media and fans blaming Rudy for shooting too much in the last game also. Conley was the only player hitting a decent amount of shots but he’s a pass first player by instinct and nobody else was hitting or wanted the ball. Rudy stepped up and tried to lead the team to victory. I can’t fault him for Game 4. I wish he would have did that in Game 3 when 6’3″ Randy Foye was guarding him.
Cmon Grizz! Win tonight for the city!